Hip hop / Rap / Rapcore
Hip hop music can be seen as a subgenre of R&B tradition (see above). Hip hop culture, the movement from which the music came, began in inner cities in the US in the 1970s. The earliest recordings, from the late-1970s and early 1980s, are now referred to as old school hip hop. In the later part of the decade, regional styles developed. East Coast hip hop, based out of New York City, was by far the most popular as hip hop began to break into the mainstream. West Coast hip hop, based out of Los Angeles, was by far less popular until 1992, when Dr. Dre's The Chronic revolutionized the West Coast sound, using slow, stoned, lazy beats in what came to be called G Funk. Soon after, a host of other regional styles became popular, most notably Southern rap, based out of Atlanta and New Orleans, primarily. Atlanta-based performers like OutKast and Goodie Mob and Ludacris soon developed their own distinct sound, which came to be known as Dirty South. As hip hop became more popular in the mid-1990s, alternative hip hop gained in popularity among critics and long-time fans of the music.
De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising (1989) was perhaps the first "alternative hip hop" blockbuster, and helped develop a specific style called jazz rap, characterized by the use of live instrumentation and/or jazz samples. Other less popular forms of hip hop include various non-American varieties; Japan, Britain, Mexico, Sweden, Finland, France, Germany, Italy and Turkey have vibrant hip hop communities. In Puerto Rico, a style called reggaeton is popular. Electro hip hop was invented in the 1980s, but is distinctly different from most old school hip hop (as is go go, another old style). Some other genres have been created by fusing hip hop with techno (trip hop) and heavy metal (rapcore). In the late 1980s, Miami's hip hop scene was characterized by bass-heavy grooves designed for dancing -- Miami bass music. Horrorcore, or Acid Rap is mainly credited to Detroit and the Midwest. There are also rappers with Christian themes in the lyrics -- this is Christian hip hop.
Perhaps the most recent development in hip hop is the Backpacker sub-genre. Characterized by a renewed focus on poetry and Hip hop culture, it includes artists such as Sage Francis, Atmosphere, and Eyedea and Abilities.
» Recommended hiphop/rap artists